Tchaikovsky, Harvest and Starlit Nights
by TacticianZephine
Summary: Ladies of status were often taught to play musical instruments, and Narcissa Black, having mastered the piano, was no exception to the rule. Exploring her boyfriend's home one weekend while the young couple has the manor to themselves leads to the discovery of the family's grand piano and impressive collection of sheet music.


The education of a young witch or wizard from a wealthy family began long before they were sent their Hogwarts letter. Basic magic, yes, but generally other things for which there was no formal instruction at Hogwarts were taught, either by tutors or by family members, depending on just how much class or status was assigned to the family.

Boys were often taught the nuances of practical things, such as potion-making and dueling, from a young age. Some, if lucky, were even given flying lessons, which were also given to girls if the family saw fit to do so, but it was far more likely that flying lessons would be given to boys of the family. Girls were taught things like etiquette, dancing (often the waltz or something similar), art (painting or sketching), music and language, mostly French, Latin, Greek, and Italian, or any combination of languages. One notable family had a daughter that spoke Spanish and Greek and one who spoke Russian and Italian, in addition to the French they were all taught but only two retained, as their eldest daughter had never cared for language studies.

The "education" of the girls also included lessons in a number of useless things, or things which may have been useful in another setting, but as witches, things like sewing, embroidery, tatting, needlework, crocheting, and knitting completely lost their usefulness once taught, and were merely done for show. Truly, some enjoyed doing these things without magic, but for the most part, they were done with the wave of a wand.

The most popular useless skill taught to young ladies of status was how to play a musical instrument, and the Black sisters were in no way an exception to this particular form of time-wasting. Bellatrix had been given flute lessons from the age of six, and Andromeda (traitorous bitch) had been taught to play the harp.

At sixteen years of age, Narcissa was not truly considered the brightest of her sisters in terms of academics, and while her skill as a Seeker was impressive, it wasn't nearly as impressive of that of her elder sister's as a Chaser. Bellatrix had been the smart one, earning high marks and "Outstandings" in every subject she'd ever studied. Andromeda (mudwallowing Muggle-lover) had been the athletic one, having excelled as a Chaser on the House Quidditch team.

True to the expectations that were set for her to meet by her elder sisters, she did well enough academically, and certainly well enough on the Quidditch pitch, but her real interests, and talent, lay in the arts. Her instrument was the piano, in which she'd shown an interest from a very young age, and although she and her sisters had been given singing lessons, she was the only one who truly looked forward to them and cared to use her singing voice as a part of the Hogwarts Frog Choir.

She had also been fortunate enough to meet a young man of equal family status to her own while still in school, and even more fortunate that he was as in love with her as she was with him. They certainly spent enough time together, she practically lived with him and his family on school holidays. Her parents didn't see much of a point in staying home for things with only one daughter still living at home. Which would have normally been hurtful to realize, if it hadn't been for the fact that Abraxas and Viviana Malfoy adored her as if she were their own daughter.

Despite the level of warmth and love she was subjected to within its walls, however, she'd never before been comfortable enough to wander the halls of the Malfoy family home. Today, however, seemed different. Abraxas and Viviana were out for the weekend, leaving the young couple to do as they pleased for the next couple of days, and they intended to take full advantage of the privacy that they found themselves happily left with. A privacy that was lovely and welcome when they were together, but deeply lonely and somewhat unsettling when Lucius was showering and she was left alone to roam the halls.

As far as she could tell, the ground floor consisted of only the entrance hall and kitchen, with the pantries and stairs to the wine cellar taking up a bit of space. The first floor had the drawing room, the dining room (with its staircase into the kitchen) and a small parlor off of the dining room. The second floor was three guest rooms and baths, and another small drawing room, along with the stairs up into the towers that housed the family suites, another parlor, and the two-story library.

A door on the second floor that she hadn't seen before had been left ajar, probably by a house-elf, and she peeked inside of the room as the lamps on the walls lit up. A magnificent piano occupied the center of the room. Shelves of books lined the walls, and when she crept closer to look at them, she realized that they were all books of sheet music. She pulled one down, and opened it to the center, smiling as she recognized "August," from The Seasons by Tchaikovsky.

A quick glance over her shoulder back toward the door, and then a slow, mischievous smile spread across her face. Surely playing one quick piece would be all right? No one would hear...

She crossed back to the piano, and sat down, setting the book on the music rack. She pushed back the falboard, brushing her fingers over the ivory. She played a scale to check whether the piano was even in tune (it was) and then started to play.

Bellatrix had often called this piece "just noise," because of the choppy nature of some of the transition, but that was why she loved it. It wasn't the "pretty," "ladylike" sort of song, like "_Au Clair de la Lune_" or some other "delicate" piece that her mother insisted she play. And the _forte_s were just that... _forte_. Not the mezzo piano that was trying to call itself an unrestricted level of volume she saw in other pieces.

She was entering the final eight measures when she heard a voice behind her. "Tchaikovsky?"

Her hands struck a sour chord as she jumped in surprise, looking over her shoulder at the young man in the doorway, who straightened himself from where he'd been leaning on the frame. She frowned at him, folding her arms. "How long were you listening?"

"Since I heard you start playing. I didn't know you played piano."

She blushed, making room for him on the bench beside her. "I've played for years, Mother and Father agreed the piano was the hardest instrument to learn, so the one that couldn't go outside would have the most time to practice. Where on Earth did your family get all of this music?"

"We've collected it. Grandfather plays, and so did his father, and his. Mother plays violin, and Father thinks music is a waste of time, so it's been up to me to give the piano some use these days. Keeps the fingers limber and fast for potion-making, so Father doesn't argue with it."

"You play?"

"I do play," Lucius smiled. "Not as well as you, though, I think."

"Flatterer." She leaned up, kissing him on the cheek. "Would you like to show me?"

"Would you like to see?"

"I would."

They turned around to the keyboard, and Lucius turned his attention the sheet music, flipping back to "May," and started to play. Narcissa watched his hands, followed along with the notes as his fingers flew across the keys, and helpfully turned the pages for him, eliciting a smile from the young wizard.

As he finished, he glanced over at her, then gestured to the pages. "'May' is my favorite section of _Les Saisons_. I think that May is the most beautiful month, so naturally it has the most beautiful musical correlation. And it goes without saying that the most beautiful people are born in May."

"Oh..." She blushed.

He slid closer to her on the bench, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and chuckling. "Though I suppose your favorite piece is 'August?'"

"No... it's actually 'November.'" She giggled. "It changes enough to keep the listener interested, and somehow gets more perfect every time I hear it. Not unlike another beautiful sound I can think of."

"Speaking of beautiful sounds..."

"Oh, there it is. That's the sound."

"... I love you."

"There it is again." She kissed him softly. "I love you too."


End file.
